1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an electrode, a lithium battery including the electrode, a method of manufacturing the electrode, and a composition for coating the electrode.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrodes of a secondary cell include a metal current collector and an active material layer formed on the metal current collector. The active material layer includes an active material, a conductive material, a binder, and/or a surfactant. The conductive material is used for increasing the conductivity of the active material layer and for increasing the interfacial conductivity between the metal current collector and the active material layer. Although the conductive material improves the charging and discharging characteristics of the secondary cell, since the conductive material is not adhesive, the conductive material can be electrically disconnected, due to cracks generated during charging and discharging operations of the secondary cell.
The binder is included in the active material layer to reduce volume changes of the active material layer, during the charging and discharging operations, and thereby prevents the formation of cracks in the electrode. Although the binder is useful for preventing cracks, the binder is not conductive. Therefore, both the conductive material and the binder need to be included in the active material layer, and thus, it is difficult to improve both the conductivity and the binding strength of the active material layer. In other words, if both the conductivity and binding strength of an active material layer of a secondary cell can be increased, the charging and discharging characteristics of the secondary cell can be greatly improved.
In Japanese Patent Publication No. 9-97625, an adhesive conductive layer is interposed between a current collector and an active material layer, to form an electrode having improved conductivity and binding strength.